These buildings may soon be replaced as part of a general sprucing up of the Rideau Canal.
The ratty, tired-looking chalets that currently dot the Rideau Canal Skateway will soon be replaced, thanks to a multi-million-dollar investment from the federal government.
That money will come from $35 million that the National Capital Commission received from Infrastructure Canada for 14 projects city-wide, announced earlier this month by Transport and Infrastructure Minister John Baird.
“We’re very pleased about the announcement,” says Kathryn Keyes, a spokesperson for the NCC.
“This investment will definitely improve the capital experience for residents and tourists.”
The $3.75 million earmarked for the Rideau Canal Skateway will be spent on replacing the existing skateway facilities, such as chalets, washrooms and information kiosks that date back to the 1970s.
“When you own assets, as we do, these properties require regular ongoing maintenance, and this money will allow the NCC to follow through on existing plans more quickly than it would have been able to do otherwise,” says Keyes.
The NCC says funding for the capital projects – which also include repairs to the Portage Bridge, rehabilitation of the Aviation Parkway and repairs to the retaining wall at Major’s Hill Park – has been confirmed, and that the projects will be completed by March of 2011.
People in the tourism industry are hopeful the investment will boost the number of visitors to the city.
“I think it’s a great idea,” says Christopher Burke, the general manager of the Canal Ritz, the restaurant on the banks of the Rideau Canal where Baird made the funding announcement.
“Any tourism that comes to Ottawa is a good thing, not only in the summer, but in the winter, too. We have people who come to the restaurant and then rent boats to check out the Rideau Canal, or who go skating,” says Burke.
“Anything that is done to improve the nation’s capital and impacts guest experience has a positive long-term effect,” says Deneen Perrin, the director of public relations at the Chateau Laurier, a hotel that caters to visitors eager to try out the world’s longest skating rink.
Keyes says the NCC has not received consistent budget increases in more than 10 years, except in 2005-06, and that money was spent on official residences.
Even with the announcement two years ago that the government would give the NCC $10 million a year for capital projects, its budget was still insufficient to carry out the much-needed construction and renovation projects.
In his announcement, the minister described the NCC’s capital budget as completely inadequate, saying the agency “had to beg, borrow and steal from [its] existing budget to make anything happen.”
The new money will come from the government’s $4 billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, a part of the Conservative government’s Economic Action Plan meant to create and protect jobs through infrastructure spending.
NCC projects: What the $35 million will be spent on
1. Victoria Island Carbide Mill Masonry Rehabilitation (estimated cost: $1.5 million): masonry stabilization and repainting of key portions of this significant structure, built in 1899.
2. Rideau Canal Skateway (estimated cost: $3.75 million): replacement of the existing public skateway facilities (washrooms, info kiosks, etc.) placed onto the Rideau Canal Skateway each winter.
3. Vincent Massey Park (estimated cost: $3 million): rehabilitation of the concession and bus shelter buildings, plus select improvements to adjoining recreational pathways, parking facilities, and landscape renewal.
4. Hog’s Back Park Washroom Pavilion (estimated cost: $3 million): Rehabilitation of the existing public washroom and concession buildings, including significant universal accessibility upgrades.
5. Lady Grey Drive Retaining Wall (estimated cost: $1.5 million): Rehabilitation of a deteriorating retaining wall.
6. MacDonald Cartier Bridge / Ottawa Belvedere Wall (estimated cost: $225,000): Rehabilitation of masonry retaining walls of belvedere located on south approach of MacDonald Cartier Bridge.
7. Aviation Parkway Pavement (estimated cost: $6 million): Full rehabilitation of four kilometres of four-lane parkway.
8. Rockcliffe Parkway North Retaining Wall (estimated cost: $6.3 million): Rehabilitation of masonry and concrete walls, circa 1920, over a length of 550 metres retaining Rockcliffe Parkway.
9. Portage Bridge Slab Underside Repairs (estimated cost: $4.05 million): Life cycle repairs to the underside of the bridge, as well as repairs to the bridge expansion joint, concrete deck, cracks in piers and slab bearings, and improvements to seismic restraints.
10. Ottawa River Parkway Bridges Repairs (estimated cost: $1.5 million): Life cycle repairs to two structures of Parkdale overpass and two structures of Carleton Street pedestrian underpass.
11. Ottawa River Parkway – Carling to Britannia (estimated cost: $750,000): Rehabilitation of the existing segment of recreational pathway from Britannia to Carling to meet current standards.
12. Major’s Hill Park Retaining Wall (estimated cost: $450,000): Stabilization of weathered limestone cliff along Pioneer Road.
13. Greenbelt Recreational Pathway- Pine Grove Sector (estimated cost: $1.5 million): Planning, designing and construction of up to about 10 kilometres of the Greenbelt Pathway between Highway 417 and Albion Road through the Pine Grove Forest.
14. Confederation Boulevard Phase I Rehabilitation / St. Patrick, second segment (estimated cost: $1.125 million): Repair work for Phase I of Confederation Boulevard primarily consists of the replacement of granite pavers with 100 mm concrete ones, and the renewal of the tree pit alignments.